A Chess Master Scans the Market for a Checkmate

Patrick Wolff's résumé includes two U.S. chess championships, first in 1992 and again in 1995, when playing professionally during his time off from college. The Harvard-educated philosophy major earned the distinction of grandmaster, an elite level. Nowadays, Wolff, 46 years old, is running Grandmaster Capital Management, a hedge-fund firm in San Francisco overseeing about $230 million. And though he doesn't play professionally any longer, he hasn't stored his chessboard in the attic just yet. In recent years at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting, Wolff, wearing a blindfold, has played multiple chess games...